1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to icon decorations, and more particularly to generating an icon decoration that can readily notify an end-user about a vulnerability associated to a computer software application.
2. Description of the Related Art
In consumer computing, it is known to apply security updates (i.e., security patch) for computer software applications via an automated computer software system or a manual process performed by an end-user of the computer software applications. In addition, it is known for a third-party application program to manage the security updates separately from operating system software updates, wherein third-party application program vendors can each have their own unique solutions to check and apply the security updates to their application program.
Computer software applications having vulnerabilities are increasingly becoming a path through which a hacker, via malware, can gain unauthorized access to a computer in order to deliver a malicious payload. To minimize vulnerabilities of a computer software application and unauthorized access to the computer software application, the security updates and security update verifications can be typically performed from within the computer software application. However, there may be risk in launching a vulnerable computer software application to perform a security update or to determine if an update is necessary. For example, computer software applications that load previously used content or dynamically loaded content from an external source, during launch of the computer software application, may need to be updated before being used. Additionally, dormant malware embedded in local or remotely loaded content may only be activated on specific versions of a computer software application. Furthermore, functionality for accessing security update information for a computer software application having vulnerabilities may be outside the path of normal usage of the computer software application, and as a result an end-user of the computer software application may not be aware of an available security update for the computer software application. Moreover, even if the end-user becomes aware of the available security update for the computer software application, the end-user may not be readily aware of the risk associated with launching the computer software application in order to apply the security update.